Liverpool John Moores University

University

Mathematics

This PGDE course prepares you for a fulfilling career as an innovative and creative teacher of Mathematics, to enable you to deliver an engaging and inspirational education to pupils. You can look forward to practical workshops, seminars and lead lectures to explore the context of pupils attainment in Mathematics. Explore how Mathematics “is a creative and highly interconnected discipline that has been developed over centuries, providing the solution to some of history’s most intriguing problems” (National Curriculum 2014 purpose of study).

During your training you will focus on signature pedagogies for Mathematics emphasising how the subject is taught, challenging common misconceptions in the subject, and barriers to learning. Sessions will help you deepen your understanding of the role and nature of Mathematics in the curriculum and your own personal philosophy for teaching. You will explore the importance of your subject, how children learn and develop a rigorous understanding of the nature of Mathematics education, and the important role that Mathematics plays in everyday life. These sessions will help you identify strategies to support how children learn in the subject.

The aims of the National Curriculum for Mathematics state that children should:

become fluent in the fundamentals of Mathematics, including through varied and frequent practice with increasingly complex problems over time, so that pupils develop conceptual understanding and the ability to recall and apply knowledge rapidly and accurately
reason Mathematically by following a line of enquiry, conjecturing relationships and generalisations, and developing an argument, justification or proof using Mathematical language
be able to solve problems by applying their Mathematics knowledge to a variety of routine and non-routine problems with increasing sophistication, including breaking down problems into a series of simpler steps and persevering in seeking solutions

In addition to sessions developing your understanding of teaching and learning in Mathematics, subject knowledge workshops will explore the key knowledge and skills that define the subject; and are supported by your subject knowledge development and didactics journal.

Entry requirements

You will usually have a minimum third class honours degree (or recognised equivalent) in a Mathematics-related discipline with significant content in your chosen subject area. Previous applicants include those with a good “A” level in Mathematics who have studied engineering, accountancy, finance or psychology.

Don't hold back from applying for teacher training in Mathematics because of your subject knowledge. You may still be able to train to teach Mathematics (and be eligible for the bursaries it attracts) by building up or refreshing your existing knowledge with a subject knowledge enhancement (SKE) programme. So, if you want to teach Mathematics but have an insufficient level of the subject in your degree to access the course, you should consider a fully funded subject knowledge enhancement course which could help prepare you to train to teach the subject effectively. For further details see Get into Teaching.

Course modules

The University element of the programme is based around modules focusing on:

developing your subject and pedagogical knowledge in order to support you in becoming a reflective, skilled and effective practitioner

promoting your ability to design inclusive, engaging and impactful sequences of lessons to meet the diverse needs all learners

informed and deliberate use of educational research to improve pupils’ learning

Assessment methods

University-based study includes:

a full-time block of three weeks at the start of the course in September

one day per week until January

six one-week study blocks at university between October and June

a number of conference days throughout the year

You will undertake a significant amount of independent study and preparation to support your course assignments and school-based work (planning, preparation and assessment); and should be prepared to work some evenings and weekends.